Cotton Road

February 5, 2016 - Posted in Reel South

Farmer Brown points out a cotton bloom and a cotton square.

The film Cotton Road follows cotton from South Carolina farms to Chinese factories to illuminate the work and industrial processes in a global supply chain. It airs Thursday, February 11th at 8:00 p.m. on South Carolina ETV.

Americans consume nearly 20 billion new items of clothing each year. Yet few of us know how our clothes are made, much less who produces them. What does a rural town in South Carolina have to do with China? USC Professor and film director Laura Kissel traces the global flow of cotton, from fields in South Carolina, to ports in Savannah and Shanghai, and to textile factories in China. Evocatively capturing people and places, Cotton Road moves the viewer from farm laborers in the southeastern U.S. to millions of Chinese migrant workers driving that country’s manufacturing economy to ask: Are we connected to one another through the things we consume?

Cotton Road is part of ETV’s Reel South series, produced in partnership with UNC-TV and the Southern Documentary Fund.